Darien's Truwit Competing In Paralympics After Shark Attack

The 24-year-old Connecticut native, from the Fairfield County town of Darien, set off for Paris on Friday, Aug. 16, where she’ll represent Team USA in the Paralympic Games later this month.

It’s a remarkable turn for the Yale University graduate, coming just over a year after she survived a near-fatal shark attack in the Caribbean.

As previously reported by Daily Voice, Truwit was snorkeling near a resort in the Turks and Caicos Islands on May 24, 2023, when a shark bit her leg.

Recounting the harrowing experience on the Kelly Clarkson Show, she said she and a college friend “fought back” against the shark, but the creature bit off her foot and part of her leg.

“I truthfully don’t know how, but we were able to swim 50 to 75 yards back to the boat,” Truwit told Clarkson. “Swimming was the first thing that saved my life and second was my teammate, Sophie.”

Her friend applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding as the pair was rushed to a local hospital.

“I’m forever indebted to her,” she said.

Truwit was airlifted to a Miami hospital before later being transferred to New York. She underwent multiple surgeries to fight infection and received blood transfusions

On May 31, 2023 – her 23rd birthday – doctors amputated her lower left leg. What followed was “lots of tears and pain and devastation and lots of really big, heavy questions going through my mind in the hospital,” she told Clarkson.

Among the questions facing the four-year letter winner for the Yale women’s swimming and diving team: would she ever be able to compete again?

“I’m a lifelong athlete, and ten days before the attack I ran a marathon with my mom. I was sitting there thinking, am I ever gonna run again? Am I ever gonna be able to be an athlete again?” she told Clarkson.

Truwit credits her teammates and coach for helping through her long road to recovery.

“The Yale swimming community has been in the trenches with me since the first day this happened and has helped pull me through with nonstop love and visits from my coach and teammates and even ongoing weekly messages of support from my mom's teammates from the 1990s,” she told the host.

In June, Truwit competed in the Paralympic trials in Minneapolis and made the US team in the women's 400-meter freestyle race, ABC News reports.

Hundreds of people were on hand for Friday’s send-off ceremony, which was also attended by Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont. Many waved American flags and chanted, “USA!” as Truwit drove by.

Lamont issued a proclamation declaring Wednesday, Aug. 28 – the day of the Paralympics opening ceremony – as Ali Truwit Day in Connecticut “as a testament to Ali's strength, fortitude and competitive spirit.”

“It is such an honor, and it touches me beyond belief to think that this many people are here supporting me,” she told reporters. “It truly is what’s carried me through this year and made this achievement possible so I’m just so, so thankful.”

Swimming at the Paralympic Games is scheduled from Thursday, Aug. 29 to Saturday, Sept. 7.

You can view the complete lineup on the Paralympics website.

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